What "Refining Materials" Actually Means

In the last 2-3 days, I have probably had 10+ people ask me on calls I am taking with them, “what does it mean when you say refine materials? do you come in and change our whole deck?”

I wanted to provide some clarity on this and to show what is important for investment groups vs what isn’t.

Refining Materials for Your Raise

I have never seen a pitch deck so good that it makes an investor place capital in your company right away. I have seen a deck so bad that it turns investors away on the spot.

The deck isn’t going to be your make or break. It should be clear, concise, and get them to understand the market, opportunity, unique edge, and where you’re trying to take the company.

This same idea goes for the data room. The only main thing you need to make sure you have right is organization.

If a potential investment partner asks for a document, a cash flow statement, etc. then it needs to be in there, or at the very least easy to find.

The longer it takes you, or the advisory firm you’re working with to find this, the more your deal decays in the eyes of an investor.

The biggest thing our group here focuses on creating in the “collateral” aspect of a raise, is the pre-call sequences.

Pre-Call Sequences

This is everything that happens (completely automatically) from the time a call is booked in with an investor, and the time you meet with them on Zoom or Google Meet.

Let’s take Breakout’s pre-call sequence for example - do you remember what you received from us when you were speaking with me the first time?

You got a confirmation email right after we booked you in, then you were given links to our Capital Advisory thesis, our Revenue Advisory thesis, and our info deck.

What this does is that when intent from your end was the highest (right after the call booking), you got to read more about us and get all the information you needed to right away.

How you digest and perceive this information separates you into 3 main buckets when you finally get on the call with me:

• Didn’t read through the information at all - lazy, unprepared buyer. Low intent.

• Skimmed through the information - needs clarity, medium intent.

• Read through all of the information and more - very interested, high intent.

This exact same process can be done to your fundraise when you’re meeting with investment groups.

The pre-call selling sequence you setup is more important than how pretty your deck looks, because it allows you to get real feedback from the leads you’re speaking with, and shows their intent level before they ever meet with you.

And if your materials are good, you can eliminate all the surface level back and forth, basic questions, and wasted time and completely change how your calls go.

This is a model we have been studying and building for years ever since we first got started doing business development work and studying modern sales processes.

And you’ve seen this first hand yourself when you spoke with me for the first time.

I believe this is an under-talked about aspect of creating collateral and materials to support your raise. Let me know if this post was helpful and if there’s anywhere I can help.

Have a great day.

Ryan Bryden
Breakout Capital Group